I think they do it because of their customers. Superstition is an art from in the US.
Between Fedora 12 and 13
Posted Dec 1, 2009 20:24 UTC (Tue) by Trelane (subscriber, #56877)
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I am aware of "unlucky 13", but disagree that "Superstition is an art form in the US." Perhaps they won't base it on 13, but I doubt it. I know it makes people feel good to bash on the US, but I get rather tired of it.
Between Fedora 12 and 13
Posted Dec 2, 2009 17:40 UTC (Wed) by rvfh (subscriber, #31018)
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Yeah, 13 is a number avoided in many places in Europe too. Many hotels don't have room 13 for example.
AIUI, it all comes from the Last Supper, so most Christian countries (and that's a lot!) may have this superstition (the 13th is a traitor [Judas], or the 13th will die [Jesus]).
Between Fedora 12 and 13
Posted Dec 3, 2009 18:28 UTC (Thu) by JoeBuck (subscriber, #2330)
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My Chinese colleagues take lucky and unlucky numbers far more seriously than Americans do, and the Chinese government does so as well. In particular, 8 is such a lucky number that the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies began at 8/8/08 at 8 minutes and 8 seconds after 8pm local time. The number 4 is very unlucky as it sounds like the word for death.
Between Fedora 12 and 13
Posted Dec 4, 2009 10:28 UTC (Fri) by SimonKagstrom (subscriber, #49801)
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Now that you mention it, Microsofts decision to skip Office 13 and go for Office 14 instead doesn't sound like a very wise move :-).
Maybe they should jump directly to Office 18 instead!
unlucky numbers
Posted Dec 5, 2009 1:26 UTC (Sat) by giraffedata (subscriber, #1954)
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My Chinese colleagues take lucky and unlucky numbers far more seriously than Americans do
That's my experience too.
Chinese American business people nearly wet themselves back when "888" was introduced as a toll-free telephone area code.
If you don't know Mandarin but listen to Mandarin TV a lot (as I do, due to my Chinese roommate), the most common phrase you hear is "yi ba ba ba," which appears at the end of most commercials and means "1-888".